More than 600 photo radar tickets are in the mail after speeding enforcement operations were conducted in Edmonton playground zones during the first two days of school this week.
One driver was clocked at 100 km/h in a 30 km/h zone, according to the City of Edmonton’s traffic safety office. The infraction comes with a mandatory court appearance.
Another violation was issued to a driver clocked at 72 km/h.
In total, 673 speeding violations were recorded — 337 on Tuesday and 336 on Wednesday.
Gary Dyck with the City of Edmonton said the number is actually exactly the same as the first two days of school in 2017.
Between Sept. 1, 2017, and June 30, 2018, 30,548 photo radar tickets were mailed to drivers for speeding infractions in playground zones. That number is also down from the same time in the previous school year, when 46,518 photo radar tickets were issued.
Edmonton police officers conducting speed enforcement in school zones also issued 8,400 tickets on the spot during the last school year.
“Given these numbers, it’s obvious there is still a large number of drivers in our city who continue to ignore the 30 km/h speed limit near schools. School is back. Please slow down in the zone,” Sgt. Kerry Bates said on Tuesday.
Police said they’re also on the lookout for illegal U-turns, double parking and crosswalk violations.
There are 407 playground zones in Edmonton and the 30 km/h speed limit is in place from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.